Selamin ()(), also known as Tzalmon, Selame, Salamis / Salamin, Zalmon, and ''Khurbet es Salâmeh'' (the Ruin of Salameh), was a Jewish village in

Lower Galilee The Lower Galilee (; ) is a region within the Northern District of Israel. The Lower Galilee is bordered by the Jezreel Valley to the south; the Upper Galilee to the north, from which it is separated by the Beit HaKerem Valley; the Jordan Rift ...

during the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

, formerly fortified by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, and which was captured by the Roman Imperial army in ''circa'' 64 CE. Today, the ruin is designated as a historical site and lies directly south of the Wadi Zalmon National Park in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's Northern District. German orientalist was the first to identify the site in 1847. The site today is directly adjacent to the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

village (formerly a

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

village),

Sallama Sallama (; ) is a Bedouin village in northern Israel. Located in the Galilee near the Tzalmon Stream, it falls under the jurisdiction of Misgav Regional Council. In its population was . The village was recognized by the state in 1976. History ...

, towards the village's southeast, situated on a spur of a hill near Mount Salameh (now ''Har Tzalmon''), on the eastern bank of ''Wady es Salameh'' ("Valley of Salameh"), or what is known in Hebrew as ''Nahal Tzalmon''. The valley runs in a northerly-southerly direction, deriving its name from ''Khurbet es Salameh'', the said ruin of Selamin (Salamis) which formerly crowned a strong and extensive site. A road accessed by 4-wheel-drive vehicle passes by the site.

Background

The Jewish population of Selamin in the 1st century-CE consisted of a sacerdotal tribe linked to the course of Dalaiah, mentioned in the apocryphal roster of

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

kohen Kohen (, ; , ، Arabic كاهن , Kahen) is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic Priest#Judaism, priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed, and halakha, halakhically required, to ...

im and their respective villages, and who were first named in a poem composed by

Eleazar beRabbi Qallir Eleazar beRabbi Qallir (; ), also known as Eleazar ha-Kalir, was a Byzantine Jewish poet whose Hebrew-language liturgical verses or piyyuṭim are sung during significant religious services, especially in the Nusach Ashkenaz rite, as well as i ...

(c. 570 – c. 640). Historical geographer,

Klein Klein may refer to: People *Klein (surname) *Klein (musician) Places * Klein (crater), a lunar feature *Klein, Montana, United States * Klein, Texas, United States * Klein (Ohm), a river of Hesse, Germany, tributary of the Ohm * Klein River, a r ...

, thinks that one of the Jewish priests who died in the conflagration during the Second Temple's destruction, Joseph b. Dalaiah, hailed from this village. The Jewish villagers of the town were most likely farmers, as the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

(compiled in 189 CE) mentions it being a place of vineyards interspersed between planted vegetables. The village is also mentioned in the

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

(''Parah'' 9:2), a sequel to the Mishnah, where it is said to have had a natural spring which ceased to flow during the Roman siege of the town. It was in Selamin where a man cried out that a venomous snake had bitten him and that he was dying. His visage was so changed that they could not recognise him when he died. Even so, based on his testimony that he was dying from a snakebite, the rabbis permitted his widow to remarry - even though they could not discern the face of the dead, or what is known as "circumstantial evidence". Israeli historian

Bezalel Bar-Kochva Bezalel Bar-Kochva (Hebrew: בצלאל בר-כוכבא; born January 1, 1941) is a professor emeritus in the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. He is a historian of the Hellenistic period, the three centuries after the conquest ...

thinks that the strategic importance of the site was in its geographical location, where it blocked one of the routes leading from the Phoenician territory to the eastern plateau of Lower Galilee. However, its choice as a defensive location for a fortress would scarcely make sense, seeing, in his view, it had an exposed and inferior position. In 1875,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

visited the site where he found the remains of a rectangular enclosure, 80 x 50 paces in circumference, as well as two presses cut in the rock. The site today is fenced-off and primarily used to keep cattle. A pool made of old masonry is still shown by locals on the ancient ruin. The inhabitants of Selamin who fought against the Imperial Roman army during the

First Jewish Revolt First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

are believed to have capitulated to the Roman army after the fall of

Tarichaea Tarichaea (, ''Tarichaia'') is the Greek place name for a historic site of disputed location. It was situated along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and mentioned in the writings of Josephus (''Ant''. 14.120; 20.159; ''The Jewish War'' 1.180; 2. ...

Archaeology

The site has yet to be excavated. According to Mordechai Aviam of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology at the University of Rochester who surveyed the site, "There is only a narrow saddle connecting the hill to the north-west, and it is clearly cut by a moat. On the western slope, one can see a segment of a wide wall, perhaps the remains of a defending wall."Aviam, Mordechai (n.d.), p. 4 Pottery and coins were found ''in situ''.

Gallery

File:Mughar as seen from Selamin ruin.jpg, Selamin ruin, and adjacent dale File:Cave in Selamin.jpg, Cave in ruin of Selamin File:Selamin ruin in blossom, looking northward across dale.jpg, Dale directly below the site of Selamin

References

Bibliography

* (Hebrew) * * * (Hebrew) * * * * *

, ''

De Bello Judaico ''The Jewish War'' is a work of Jewish history written by Josephus, a first-century Roman-Jewish historian. It has been described by the biblical historian Steve Mason as "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history". C ...

'' (The Jewish War) * * * * * * * *

External links

* ''Kh. Sellâmeh'', shown in

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

, Map 6
IAA

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Selamin Former populated places in Israel Ancient Jewish history Judea (Roman province) Historic Jewish communities 60s disestablishments in the Roman Empire Tells (archaeology) Ancient Jewish settlements of Galilee Fortifications in Israel Historic sites in Israel Geography of Northern District (Israel)